• Press Report 16th April 2007

     
    Sunday saw the 2nd Spring WARM-UP Meeting at Havering Mayesbrook track in Dagenham on a very hot day that was more accustomed to July than April. 10 Ilford Athletes took part in what was another indication on how they are progressing.
     
    The only U/13 to take part was George Hadler in the 800m. It looked as though he was feeling the heat but still managed to come home in a time of - 3m 30.1s. Liam Leddy was in the same race but as U/15 Boys and ran well for most of the race although he admitted afterwards he could have just pushed himself that little bit harder. Anyway he finished well with a time of - 2m 31.9sec which was 0.9s outside his PB. Zena Uppal also competed in this event in the U/17 Girls and as this was her first race for some time had encouragement with a time of - 2m 42.4s. Lydia Hall started the U/17 women 300m in final style blowing away her opponents in the first 150m but tied up towards the end to finish with - 44.0s exactly. Her coach spotted what went wrong and hopefully this will be rectified in weeks to come. Laura Townsend coming back from injury decided not to do the 300m but have a go at the 100m. Although an event that she hasn't done for some time was still able to come home with a time of - 14.2s and a PB by 0.2s. The only other athlete on the track was Simeon Stuart in the U/17 Boys 100m with a solid time of - 12.2s.
     
    In the field events Simeon Stuart did the Long jump and leaped a distance of - 5m 72 but the best was yet to come. He tried the high jump again which he hasn't done for some time and amazingly he cleared a magnificent PB height of - 1m 75cm. Andrew Townsend U/15 Boys did the discus and threw - 16m 21 which was another good performance but need to check results from last weekends open meeting to see if it is a PB or not. Youcef Zatat U/15 Boys decided to take part in 3 events, the Javelin which he threw - 24m 35, the discus distance of - 24m 69 and a very good shot putt distance of - 9m 45cm which is a PB by 19cm, the 10m mark must not be far away now. The last 2 competitors to compete were Andy Carle U/17 Boy and Charlie Clements U/17 Girl in the Javelin. Andy forgot about his disappointment of last weekend's open meeting when he failed to make a mark and threw a best of 4 throws distance of - 41m 61 which is a PB and the CLUB RECORD post 2004. Charlie Clements was not to be outdone and amazingly to her coaches surprise threw a PB of - 26m 05 which is a massive 3m 29cm better than she has ever thrown before. This is even more remarkable after the winter season where she has hardly done any training due to injury etc, so what could she have done with it. It is surely only time with training under her belt that 30m will be hit.
     
    A good day all round for the athletes that took part. The next stop is the first Southern Women's League Match on Saturday 28th April and the joint boys / girls meeting for the EYAL on Sunday 29th April at Watford.